Chapter 18 · Dad in the Ash House

My father pressed the gun harder against Evan's temple on Sera's stolen tablet.

Evan's head hung forward. Blood ran from his hairline, down his cheek, and dripped off his jaw onto the concrete.

Dad leaned close to the camera like he was about to tell me something sweet.

"Come alone, Nia. Ash House. You know where it is."

"Let him go," I said.

My voice came out wrong. Too thin. Like it belonged to somebody who still believed fathers did what fathers were supposed to do.

Dad smiled.

"You have forty minutes. Bring nobody. Tell Cross to stay underground where he belongs."

Julian was still sitting in the metal chair beside me, blood at the corner of his mouth. The black curse had crawled up his throat now. It looked like spilled ink under his skin.

Dad saw it too.

His smile got wider.

"Actually," he said, "bring him if you want. His family always did love a fire."

The screen went black.

For half a second, nobody moved.

Then I shoved the ceramic shard harder into Julian's neck.

"Tell me what he meant."

Julian didn't even look at the shard. His eyes stayed on the dead tablet screen.

"Nia—